Attention chocoholics!
There is a place in Pennsylvania built on chocolate. Well, a chocolate empire at least.
The town people call Hershey, Pennsylvania is technically Derry Township but most know it as Hershey or Chocolatetown or my favorite, the sweetest place on earth. That's due to the shear volume of yummy chocolatey goodness it produces every year.
Chocolate town is an amusement park with a restaurant, two stores with all thing Hershey, tours of the town, and a few other things. We skipped the rides to enjoy the sight seeing.
The central outdoor area has several places to take selfies with Hershey's most famous candy stars individually but we wanted their group photo.
The light posts here, as on Derry Township's main street, are Kisses. They come in the milk chocolate and dark chocolate variety.
In fact, Kisses are theme around here.
Inside the stores are every kind of Hershey candy available and some that are only sold here which made for an interesting time selecting which ones to take home.
It's Chocolate World's 50th birthday this year so naturally they created a chocolate tribute.
So much chocolaty goodness (badness?) everywhere you look. It's a bit like a Willy Wonka movie only without Oompah Loompas and the kidnapping of children.
If you think the restaurant is safe from the overindulgence of sweetness, guess again.
The decor is charmingly child friendly (those horses at at the bar) and most of the food and drink have some type of chocolate flavoring added. They have the only Old Fashioned we've seen made with Peanut Butter Whiskey topped with a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup.
This is also the only Old Fashioned Dave has approved of so far.
We learned quite a bit about Milton Hershey on the tour we took. Taking an air conditioned trolley tour on what was a really hot day was our best move. We saw the town, the school, bad luck ducks (golfers always seem to miss their putts when the ducks are around), and so much more.
Milton Hershey is the poster child for never giving up (he was almost 40 before he became the success we know him as), but he and his wife, Catherine, were true philanthropists whose legacy lives on well after their passings. In an age of robber barons, they gave back to their community instead of taking from it.
He built a town for workers with quality housing for which his employees only paid for materials. During the great the depression to keep the men in his town employed he paid for several new buildings to be constructed. It was said no one was laid off during this turbulent time. Most impressively though, he and his wife started a school for the underprivileged in 1909 which today, fully pays for the education, housing, meals, and more for 2,100 underprivileged children from pre-k to 12th grade. Additional scholarship funds are available for those wanting a degree. All from the trust created by Milton and Catherine. There is no government funding.
The sweetest place on earth created by the sweetest gift, compassion.
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